Make votes matter in general elections - we want proportional representation

This General Election must be the last one to use our archaic First Past the Post voting system.

I was 16 years old at the 2015 general election. I couldn’t vote but I was frustrated that the election results didn’t reflect how people voted, so I started this petition for a fairer voting system.

Two years on and I voted for the first time - but my vote didn’t matter. I want to be able to vote for whichever party I believe in. I don’t want to be scared of ‘wasting’ my vote or ‘letting the other side in’. I want a vote that counts.

The only fair and democratic system of electing MPs is one that matches seats in Parliament to how people voted - Proportional Representation.

Our weak and wobbly voting system has given us a coalition of chaos - the DUP and Conservatives - formed without the support of most voters. Strong and stable majority coalitions are the norm in most developed democracies. Coalitions can mean collaboration and cooperation, working together to solve problems. But they only work if they are based on majority support from the population.

At this general election, the Green Party, Liberal Democrats and UKIP won 11% of the votes but now make up just 2% of MPs. A vote for the Scottish National Party was worth 18 times as much as a vote for the Green Party. UKIP won half a million votes but no MPs.

The First Past the Post voting system is undemocratic and dramatically distorts the results of our elections.

First Past the Post is clearly broken. Labour is on the verge of committing to reform. All the other opposition parties are already in favour. And yet some in the Conservative Party are intent on blocking any attempts to change the system. Worse still, their manifesto even committed to extending First Past the Post to the London Assembly. This is a cynical attempt to rig the system in their favour.

We have to act now to save our democracy. Please sign and share this petition to send a message to the new government - we want proportional representation.

Together we can keep this issue at the top of the agenda. If you’d like to join thousands of us all over the country who are taking action to make votes matter, sign up at www.makevotesmatter.org.uk